Fig. 5

Enhancer-like intergenic peaks form multiple contacts in the genome and exhibit stage specific functions. a Circular plot represents number of contacts made by the P. falciparum genes with enhancer-like elements and their correlation with gene expression. Overall, enhancer-gene body contacts increase from rings (R) to trophozoites (T) to schizonts (S) stage. The inner three tracks labelled with S, T and R show bar plots for the number of contacts per gene in the particular stage. There are total 959 genes (includes 11 virulence genes) contacting enhancers with maximum number of contact made by a gene is 58. Out of 959 genes, 366 genes have strong positive or negative correlation between the number of contacts and gene-expression. These are shown as colored dots along with the gene label on each chromosome from pf1 to pf14 and MT (mitochondrial) in the outermost two tracks. The color codes for the dots are: Dark green represents correlation value ranging from −1.0 to −0.9; Green represents correlation value ranging from > −0.9 to −0.7; Orange represents correlation value ranging from 0.7 to <0.9; Red represents correlation value ranging from >0.9 to 1.0. Interestingly, the virulence genes (represented by red circles in each track S, T and R) show highest enhancer contacts in T stage. These virulence genes are labelled in red texts. 6 out of 11 virulence genes (PFB0010w, MAL7P1.50, PF08_0141, PF08_0103, PFL0935c and PF13_0003) show strong positive correlation (> = 0.7) between the contacts made by them and their expression. The correlation between number of contacts of genes with enhancers and its expression across three stages is calculated using Pearson method. b Number of contacts established per gene by enhancer-like elements is calculated for trophozoite stage. Gene ontology of genes showing more than 5 contacts and equal to or less than 5 contacts per gene. Genes with more than 5 contacts are mostly involved in the complex regulation pathways however; genes showing equal to or less than 5 contacts are involved in the maintenance of housekeeping function